how big did ff11 area grow before and after all the expansion?

[Warlyx]

I mean the transition into each zone in a zone are the same, not that Yahtunga and Dunes look the same. If I showed you a picture of, lets say, the area used to transition from Meriphataud Mountains to The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah, how do you know it isn't the area used to transition you from Meriphataud Mountains to Sauromugue Champaign? I don't think you can

because the entrance to zitah looke like this



and the other one is totally different?

[Nalien]

because the entrance to zitah looke like this



and the other one is totally different?

That's far more than the entrance and we both know that. That's the path you walk on your way to the Zi'Tah zone, the actual zone point was beyond the tower in a narrow little passage; Just like every other zone point the that area. Even if you want to take that picture and claim it's relevant, something like North Shroud to Coerthas still seems vastly better... Even from that far back I have no idea I'm about to enter a giant and ancient forest.

I can't really believe I'm even having to argue this point... It's a veritable fact, though through no fault of XI itself, that was just the limitations at the time. All I am stating is that XIV has excelled at map building where XI frankly fell flat. Time and time again I see people complaining about XIV zones while holding XI on some glorious pedestal... The key difference between zones in XI and XIV is that XI actually made relevant use of the zones through content, where XIV falls flat in that regard. Taken just on the merit of their craftsmanship, XIVs zones vastly outclass XIs. It is a more believable world with far more attention to detail, XI might as well be the same copy/paste mess 1.0 was. The content in the zones in the critical difference here, not the actual zones themselves.

For its time, XIs zones were perfectly fine and acceptable and it had the content in them that kept them relevant. For its time, I'd say XIVs zones are pretty outstanding, it's just missing the content. The world is a glorified lobby for the Duty Finder at little else as far as serious content goes.

[Warlyx]

it was a joke :P , Ps2 limitation hurted FFXI a lot, in today mmorpgs u will see the forest behind that entrance and even the bohayada tree...maybe u wont have even zoning at all

[Allistar]

As someone said already XIV zones give the feeling of being lived in, but only so long as you have a reason to be there...after all your quest are completed there's no reason to really go anywhere in XIV because of the DF and PF, of course if there were over world dungeons and ruins and other things for us to interact with (hint hint hint *exp parties*) maybe the zones won't seem so dead after all...but at the same time lots of XIV zones do feel a bit crammed, I think an increase of about 1-2% in surface area would make traveling from outpost to outpost or major hub much more relevant.

[kyuven]

Well, lets see here..haha. In the zones..you could...
Hunt NM
Hunt HNM
Do Campaign
Farm monsters for gil items or equipment
Pop your own NM at the ??? with a PT/Alliance
There was always EXP parties going on
Use the monsters to level up your skills/evasion/etc

I may be forgetting things..but FFXI used zones for MUCH more then just quests.

So, raids, grinds, and EXP parties.
I'd also like to add that, for a game supposedly "not centered on quests," there were a lot that were REQUIRED for game progression. Even moreso than many recent games.
Airship? Quest
Other airship? quest
Unlock jobs beyond the base 6? Quest
Get access to strong weapons and armor specific to your job? Quest
Maps? Quest
Subjob? Quest
Progress past lvl 50? one quest for each increment of 5 levels.

There may have been plenty to do BESIDES quests, but they formed a huge portion of the game. And the missions carried the story to boot, which were generally quite well done.
For a game whose focus wasn't quests, the game sure had a lot of it...

[Laraul]

XIV 1.0 did the same thing with zones as they did w/ 1.0. Big, hard to navigate areas that recycled parts over and over through out the map. They we're huge and took a long while to transverse, yet w/ just a few interesting parts sprinkled here and there. Otherwise each part of various maps looked like every other part.

Notable XI zones that everyone hated...
Tahrongi Canyon
Yuhtunga Jungle
Yhoator Jungle
Beaucedine Glacier
Fei'Yin
Maze of Shakhrami
Garlaige Citadel
Toraimarai Canal


and on and on...